> The ESA's Ariane 5 (predecessor of the VEGA rocket) had a very checkered history.
Ariane 5 is not the predecessor of Vega. They are two very different project, for different payloads. And look at the table of success and failure rate of the Ariane 5 itself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianne_5
> SpaceX has had an amazing run in comparison to most other platforms.
Clearly that's not the case.
> I think you'll find that political reasons are keeping NASA from buying more launches from SpaceX.
Ariane 5 is not the predecessor of Vega. They are two very different project, for different payloads. And look at the table of success and failure rate of the Ariane 5 itself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianne_5
> SpaceX has had an amazing run in comparison to most other platforms.
Clearly that's not the case.
> I think you'll find that political reasons are keeping NASA from buying more launches from SpaceX.
From that interview: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-and-spacex-elon-musks-indu...
Elon Musk: NASA called and told us that we'd won a $1.5 billion contract. And I couldn't even hold the phone, I just blurted out, "I love you guys."
Scott Pelley: They saved you.
Elon Musk: Yeah, they did.